Bushfire Commission delivers final report

The commissioners made 67 recommendations which will now be considered by the Victorian and Commonwealth governments.

The recommendations included the establishment by the Commonwealth, in collaboration with other Australian jurisdictions, of a national centre for bushfire research.

According to the report, the centre would support pure, applied and long-term research in the physical, biological and social sciences relevant to bushfires, and promote continuing research and scholarship in related disciplines.

The report makes recommendations on Victoria's bushfire safety policy, emergency and incident management, fireground response, electricity-caused fires, deliberately lit fires, planning and building, land and fuel management, organisational structure, research and evaluation, and monitoring implementation.

Some of the key recommendations are:
- that the role of warnings be enhanced, including providing for timely and informative advice about the predicted passage of a fire and the actions to be taken by those potentially in its path;

- that the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) provide mapping data free of charge to emergency response agencies;

- the progressive replacement of all single-wire earth return power lines and 22-kilovolt distribution feeders in Victoria with aerial bundled cable, underground cabling, or other technology that delivers greatly reduced bushfire risk (to be completed in the areas of highest risk within 10 years);

- that Standards Australia amend the objective of AS 3959-2009, Construction of Buildings in Bushfire-prone Areas, to ensure that it incorporates reducing the risk of ignition from ember attack; and

- that the Australian Building Codes Board negotiate with Standards Australia and SAI Global Ltd an arrangement for free online access to AS 3959-2009, the other Australian standards referred to in that standard, and any other bushfire-related Australian standards referred to in the Building Code of Australia.

The full list of recommendations and the final report in its entirety can be accessed at www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au